In advance of a House vote today concerning mandatory GMO labeling, myself and other policy experts on biotechnology, consumer, and agricultural policy sent a letter to lawmakers explaining the problems with that plan:

The House is expected to vote this week on the Senate’s mandatory GMO labeling legislation, and may do so without even allowing any amendments, despite the House having already passed its own GMO bill that created a voluntary labeling system.

A group of free-market GMO experts released the following statement today regarding the House possibly rubberstamping the Senate GMO bill:

“The House is about to completely ignore its voluntary labeling bill that it passed last year with bipartisan support and cave to a poorly considered Senate bill that was developed behind closed doors.

For decades, the environmental activist group Greenpeace has been among the most vocal, and oftentimes vicious, opponents of biotechnology and genetically engineered crops. The group has lobbied for bans on GE crops and gone as far as destroying field tests in...

Earlier today, I had the pleasure of announcing that the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s board of directors has selected Kent Lassman to be the next president of CEI.

I was a member of our search committee, and our task was to find an intelligent, charismatic, and effective leader who embraces CEI’s feisty approach to promoting economic liberty, innovation, and prosperity. We were lucky to have interviewed nearly two dozen fine candidates, any number of whom would have made a great choice. In the end, though, the search committee and board agreed that Kent would be the best person to lead CEI into the future.

Four years ago, I had the privilege—and the daunting task—of searching for a new president to lead CEI, when founder Fred Smith decided it was time for him to step down. Our six-person search committee set out to find an intelligent and charismatic leader with a positive vision for defending individual liberty and free enterprise, and the focus to lead us toward achieving those goals. We pored over scores of resumes, held dozens of interviews with many highly qualified candidates, and eventually selected Lawson Bader as our unanimous choice to be the next CEI president.

Following an organization’s founder as president is a formidable job. But Lawson rose to the challenge, and he proudly led CEI in some of its most important battles: fighting the Obama administration’s energy rationing policies, the National Labor Relations Board’s onerous employment rules, the Treasury Department and...

Four years ago, I had the privilege—and the daunting task—of searching for a new president to lead CEI, when founder Fred Smith decided it was time for him to step down. Our six-person search committee set out to find an intelligent and charismatic leader with a positive vision for defending individual liberty and free enterprise, and the focus to lead us toward achieving those goals. We pored over scores of resumes, held dozens of interviews with many highly qualified candidates, and eventually selected Lawson Bader as our unanimous choice to be the next CEI president.

Following an organization’s founder as president is a formidable job. But Lawson rose to the challenge, and proudly led CEI in some of its most important battles: fighting the Obama administration’s energy rationing policies, the National Labor Relations Board’s onerous employment rules, the Treasury...

A few months ago, statistician and risk analyst Nassim Nicholas Taleb, known mostly for his intriguing 2007 book The Black Swan, teamed up with a handful of colleagues to write a “scholarly” diatribe claiming to demonstrate that “what appear to be small and reasonable risks” with GMOs may “accumulate inevitably to certain irreversible harm.” Therefore, the precautionary principle “should be used to prescribe severe limits on GMOs.” The paper received a lot of attention in scientific circles, but was roundly dismissed for being long on overblown rhetoric but conspicuously short on any meaningful reference to the scientific literature describing the risks and safety of genetic engineering, and for containing no understanding of how modern genetic engineering fits within the context of centuries of far more crude genetic...

I was very sad to hear last week that Elizabeth Whelan, founder and president of the American Council on Science and Health, had passed away. Beth had a great scientific mind—always asking questions, and always seeking new knowledge—not just information, but understanding. And it was that innate desire to know, to better understand, and to share the truth that led her, in 1978, to found an organization dedicated to injecting solid scientific information into public debates and public policy on public health. Under Beth’s leadership, and with her aggressive, no nonsense activism, ACSH became a leading voice in science advocacy and “go to” source of information about a range of science and health issues.

I came to know Beth many years ago after becoming interested in food and drug safety issues. As a...

The Kansas Republican primary race pitting incumbent Rep. Mike Pompeo against his 4th congressional district predecessor Todd Tiahrt has become heated lately. The generally reliable conservative Tiahrt is hammering Pompeo for sponsoring a bill the former says is a sellout of free market conservative principles. In truth, the bill to limit state power over genetically modified (GM) foods is something conservatives and other free market advocates should get behind.